Maybe Forever
by Fudge Supreme
Summary: Sakura has learned to live with no boyfriend for four long years after Sasuke had left. Everyone else around her has had a boyfriend or girlfriend. Maybe her time has come, for once and for all. [Oneshot]


Maybe Forever

A SasuSaku one-shot

Please review. )

Maybe Forever

Sakura sighed. As she leaned back from the sketch she was working on a few seconds ago, she scrutinized it with a mixture of one trying to find a criticism and hope for perfection. Sitting on the bridge Team7 usually meets, she found that her legs were starting to cramp under her while she drew. _The sun's beginning to set,_ she noted with slight wariness. She put away her sketchbook into her messenger bag, and set off to a lake nearby to perform her ritual of cleaning her brushes.

As she walked on into the woods and to the lake, the black tipped brushes tight in her clutch, she hummed happily to herself, having found a moment of sanctuary and peace. It's not just the offers the woods provided. There was this sense of "Home Sweet Home" for Sakura. Ino often laughed at her about it, but Sakura knew otherwise. Ino had the perfect Kodak moment family, while her own was in shambles. She had a boyfriend, and Sakura had none. Although many people scoffed at the idea of the lazy, extremely intelligent Nara Shikamaru with the loud, boisterous and ever hyper Yamanaka Ino, Sakura knew from firsthand accounts that they are very well suited to each other.

Funny thing is, everyone in her generation is either all adults, or quite near the adulthood. Everyone has had a girlfriend or a boyfriend, whether broken up or not. However, Sakura herself never had a boyfriend, even though she knew how everything works.

_Stop it,_ she told herself sternly. She will not go back to those painful memories four years ago. Four years ago, when Sasuke had spurned her. When she had a broken heart for the first time. She brushed away her tears, angry for the tears he can still inspire. All her efforts, her feelings, had gone and vanished like a quick breeze of wind with him when he left the village.

Sakura berated herself. How many times she had tried to go on a date with many young men, she never felt anything remotely close to what she had for Sasuke. Sakura hated Sasuke for having such an effect on her. She despised him for leaving her. Yet she still loved him.

Sakura stopped, her train of thoughts rudely pushed to one side. She had arrived at the lake, but she wasn't alone. With a quick intake of breath, she looked closely.

No… That cannot be him… How many times had she thought about him as she journeyed here? How many times had he actually appeared before her eyes?

Somehow, Sakura just knew. She just knew it was Sasuke, sitting there, staring into the lake with so much concentration. He looked different—the aura he emanated was different. No longer cold and emotionless, but it spoke of unknown mysteries and secrecy and strange enough, hope.

"Sasuke-kun...?" Sakura blurted out, then covered her mouth, horrified. As she watched, as if in slow motion, he turned, and looked at her. Into her, it seemed. Into her mind, where thoughts had vanished momentarily, and into her heart, the song singing all of a sudden. For him, she realized. Her heart sang for him.

Eyes brimming with tears, Sakura turned away, wanting to look at him, but it was so painful to. Her tears started falling, and as she dropped her possessions and dashed away, Sasuke just sat there. He had no idea what he was feeling at the moment. Sure, he was hurt at Sakura running away from him, but that wasn't all. He clearly remembered the last time she had talked to him, the last time they had seen each other.

"_Thank you," said Sasuke._

Sasuke buried his face in his hands, tears threatening to spill. The first sign of tears in over ten years. But these tears were true. He missed his friends, if that was what you can call them. He missed the life of the village, the tardiness of Kakashi, the persistence of Sakura, and even the simple-minded Naruto. But most of all, he missed Sakura.

Having made his decision, he picked up her things and left the lake. Flipping open her sketchbook as he walked towards what he hoped was Sakura's house, he noticed the transition of improvement with each picture. First few pages were flowers or so, but Sakura had aspired to drawing elegant sunsets and intricate designs. However, on the last page, he noticed a drawing, placed away from other sketches.

It was of him, and it was damnably good, too.

Underneath was a message. _If I ever get the chance to see him again, I swear I will not chicken out. I will tell him everything I feel, including my love and my hate for him._

Sasuke read and reread that message, feeling the hurt behind the words. He walked past Sakura's house without noticing and double tracked himself. Hesitantly ringing her doorbell after a few minutes of readying himself, he fidgeted, not knowing what to do if she answered.

And it turned out that she did answer. As they both stood there, quietly, staring at each other for an eternity, feeding their starving eyes with images of each other. Then he reached out and softly pulled her inside. Sakura followed without protest. Sasuke set her bag on the table and pulled her down next to him on the couch. He leaned in and softly kissed Sakura. He felt her stiffen with shock then relax into the kiss. But it didn't get hot and heavy. There were too much they had gone through. But a simple kiss was enough. As he sat there hugging her tightly, there were so many things he wanted to say, wanted to make up for. But now was not the time. This is their time.

So how was it? Review please.


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